Crisis Management
by LaCinderel
Summary: Alicia decides to handle a crisis in her own way. Set between episodes 6x12 and 6x13.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Yeah, I'm back. Again. Thought I'd try my hand at something less fluffy this time. I have an outline for three chapters. This is the first one. Enjoy, and please let me know what you think!**

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**CCTV**

_Tuesday, 4 pm_

Alicia took a deep breath, trying to calm the nerves that made her stomach flutter as she peeked through the curtain at the back of the stage. Reporters were filing in and taking their seats. There were a lot of them. TV, newspapers, even some bloggers. Some faces she knew, others she didn't. One she remembered all too well from the debate, yesterday. She rolled her eyes. Of course he was in the front row, sitting on the edge of his seat, a gleeful smirk on his face as he spoke quietly into his phone.

"Mancini's here. I guess he smells blood." She was pleased to notice her voice sounded steady. She let the curtain fall back and turned to face the two men standing behind her. They were unusually quiet. As a matter of fact, they were both completely ignoring her. Probably because they were too busy giving each other dirty looks. Alicia thought it was a welcome relief after the day full of drama that had led them up to this moment.

Another relief was that Peter had followed her advice and hadn't shown up here like she had feared he would. She didn't need him here. This was her mess, and she was going to clean it up herself.

Crossing her arms, she looked from Eli to John, her gaze lingering on her campaign manager a little longer than it should. Her mind wanted to do a replay of their conversation at the debate, but she quickly shut it down. No time to delve into that now. No time to think about his feelings, or to dissect her own feelings. _What feelings? There are no feelings_, she reminded herself.

"So…" She uncrossed her arms and smoothed her skirt. "How do I look?" Again, there was no response. Okay, no more stalling. Time to throw herself to the lions.

"Alicia, don't do this. It's a bad idea," Eli said, his eyes pleading. John was staring at his shoes.

Alicia arched her eyebrows. "Thank you, Eli. You already told me that at least ten times today, so consider me duly warned. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a press statement to make." She looked back at John, who had lifted his head and was now looking at her with guarded eyes. He looked as tired as she felt. She felt like she should say something to him, but she didn't know what she could say. Not at this moment.

She shook her head and turned around. Squared her shoulders, hoping she looked composed and confident. She felt like throwing up, but she wouldn't. She could do this. She had to. It was past time for her to take back control over her life.

Straightening herself, Alicia walked past the curtains and onto the podium. Camera's began flashing immediately. Reporters shouted questions at her.

She ignored them all as she walked up to the microphone and waited for the crowd to settle into silence.

* * *

_Tuesday, 8 am_

Alicia woke to the sound of the TV in the living room. Grace must be watching the morning news, she thought as she stretched lazily. She was in no hurry to get up, since she had nowhere to be before one in the afternoon, when she would be meeting Owen for lunch. She wasn't needed in office until the partners meeting at three, and there were no court cases that demanded her immediate attention. She was gonna enjoy her rare morning off by taking a long shower and then catching up on the three episodes of _Darkness at Noon_ she had missed.

The smell of fresh coffee hit her nose and she decided to go have a cup of coffee with her daughter before she hit the shower. They hadn't spent as much time together as Alicia would have liked lately, and Grace would be off to school in half an hour or so.

"Good morning!" she called out to Grace as she went into the kitchen to pour herself the coffee. There was no response from the living room, but she did hear a reporter saying her name on TV. They must be discussing last night's debate. Or maybe they were talking about the protests and wondering why she hadn't been out on the streets with either Prady or Peter. Alicia shook her head, deciding to switch off the news program as soon as she could get Grace to hand over the remote control. She was in no mood for politics this morning, she just wanted to relax a little.

Her phone began to vibrate. It was on the counter, right where she'd left it last night. As she reached for it, the doorbell rang and someone pounded on the door as well. "Never a dull moment," she muttered, rolling her eyes as she hurried to the door. "Hello?" she said into her phone.

Looking in as she passed the door to the living room, she saw her daughter staring at the TV, dressed in her school uniform, a shocked expression on her face. "Grace? What's wrong?" The doorbell rang again. And again. "Grace? Honey?"

"Alicia." John's voice spoke in her ear as the person on the other side of the door started pounding again. "Alicia?"

Grace kept staring at the TV.

"Yes John, I'm here. But can I call you back in a minute? There's… For God's sake, would you stop banging my door down already? I'm coming!"

"Are you watching the news?" John asked.

"What does it sound like I'm doing? Hold on..." She opened the door and jumped back immediately when Eli came striding in, his face reminiscent of a thunderstorm. "John, I'll call you back. Eli's having one of his meltdowns again," she said, rolling her eyes. "Good morning, Eli!" she called out after her husbands chief of staff, who was just walking into the living room.

"He's there already? Ah, hell… Listen, I'm on my way. I'll be there in... five minutes. Don't take any calls from reporters, okay?" John didn't wait for her reply before he broke the connection.

Alicia had no time to wonder what all the sudden fuss was about. As soon as she had put her phone in the pocket of her robe, Grace came marching from the living room, looking like she'd seen a ghost. "Grace? What's going on?" She put a hand on her daughter's shoulder, but Grace shook it off and walked right past her, out the front door. Alicia was shocked to see her eyes were glassy with tears. "Grace, wait..."

"Don't, mom. I don't want to talk about it now." Grace looked over her shoulder, her eyes pleading. "There's a test, so I can't be late for school."

"But, honey…"

"Just... watch the news, okay?" With that, Grace got in the elevator, leaving her mother confused and shaken and wondering how the morning could have gone to hell in the blink of an eye.

Sighing, Alicia went back inside, closed the door and walked straight back into her bedroom. Apparently there would be no long shower, but there was no way she was gonna face both Eli and John in nothing but a robe. She grabbed a pair of jeans and a red V-neck top from her closet and got dressed quickly.

Walking into the living room not four minutes later, Alicia found Eli staring at the TV, looking like he could explode any minute now. "Okay, go ahead, Eli. What's wrong?"

"Take a look at this remarkable footage of Alicia Florrick, recorded the day before yesterday…" came a news anchor's voice from the TV.

_Uh-oh._

Alicia turned around and stared, knowing what was to come. Yup, there she was, walking through the parking garage, a big, happy smile on her face. And there was John, giving her a puzzled look. She watched herself walk right up to him, put a hand in his neck and smacking one on him. Saw John's arms came up around her waist reflexively...

Then the news anchor was back, pretending to fan himself as he smirked into the camera. "Wow, that was some kiss. And in case you hadn't noticed, that _wasn't_ the Governor, folks... I wonder how this will affect Mrs. Florrick's position in the SA's race?"

The anchor kept babbling, but Alicia tuned him out as she sank down on the couch, her mind working overtime. _How had they gotten that footage? Who had been filming them?_

"Couldn't you at _least_ have picked a place that _doesn't_ have CCTV?" Eli spat, just as the doorbell rang to signal John's arrival.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you for the encouraging reviews on the first chapter. Here's number 2, enjoy and let me know what you think!**

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**Press Conference**

_Tuesday, 4.02 pm_

"People have been calling me saint Alicia for years now," Alicia started her speech. "But as we all know from this morning's news reports, I am far from saintly. I am also no super hero. I am merely human. I experience emotions, and I express them. When I heard that the charges against my law partner had been dropped, I was happy. I was relieved. And I expressed that by kissing Mr. Elfman. That is all there was to it. But this is why I hate politics. I hate pretending to be someone I'm not. I hate how everyone suddenly has an opinion on everything about me. So the truth is, I never wanted to run for State's Attorney."

She could feel the excitement level in the room rising. They were wondering if she was dropping out of the race, some may even be counting on it. "I do, however, believe that I will make one hell of a State's Attorney. Because what the office needs is not a politician. Or a super hero. Or a saint. What it needs is a human being, like myself, who knows the laws of our county and how to apply them to get justice done. And that is why I am still running. If my humanity costs me the election, then so be it. But before you hold my kissing Mr. Elfman against me, think about what that would say about the values that Cook County holds dear." She took a deep breath, then looked Patrick Mancini straight in the eye. He was still smirking. "Now, I imagine you have some questions for me," she said.

He didn't waste any time. "What does your daughter have to say about you kissing a man that's not her father?"

"Mr. Mancini, I am surprised that you have such short memory. Didn't I just ask you yesterday to respect the privacy of my family life? Didn't I also just tell you minutes ago that the... incident in the parking garage had nothing to do with my family? How my daughter and I deal with this situation is between us." She held up a hand when he wanted to continue. "And let me save you the trouble of having to ask the same question twice. My husband and I will deal with this situation in private as well."

"How very… discreet of you, Mrs. Florrick," he replied instantly. "Do you believe discretion to be an important quality for an SA?"

_Questions are for dopes_, John's voice suddenly echoed through Alicia's mind, making her smile. "Yes, Mr. Mancini. Discretion is important in all public functions. But it is not more important than justice being done, which is ultimately what being a State's Attorney is all about. Does anyone else have a question?"

"Will Mr. Elfman stay on as your campaign manager?" a blond woman sitting behind Mancini asked.

"That is a question you should ask Mr. Elfman. He is a valued and trusted member of my campaign staff as well as someone I consider a friend. But he is also an independent consultant. He is free to make his own decisions."

* * *

_Tuesday, 10.20 am_

Alicia sat on her couch and covered her ears with her hands in a futile attempt to shut out the shouting voices. They were giving her a headache. She felt like she was watching a tennis match as she looked back and forth between Eli, standing at the window, and John, standing on the opposite side of her living room. Eli was giving John hell about him 'loving his candidate' for the third or fourth time that morning, while John was telling Eli to shut up and focus on how to handle this.

"You know damn well how you should handle this!" Eli shouted, and Alicia had had enough.

"Shut up! Both of you!" she yelled, jumping up. They both gave her wide eyed looks of shock, their jaws dropping. "Thank you," Alicia said. She raised her hands when John started to speak again. Then she pointed at the couch. "No. I'm talking now. Sit down, both of you." Crossing her arms, she waited for them to follow her command. Once they did, she gave Eli a pointed look. "You are going to arrange a press conference for this afternoon. Then you are going to call Peter and tell him he can't come. Go."

John and Eli exchanged looks. Then both of them started talking at the same time. "Alicia…" "You can't…"

"I can and I will. This is my life, and it's also my campaign," Alicia interjected, putting her hands on her hips. "Eli, get on the phone. And you," she said to John, "In the kitchen. Right now." She turned and led the way, not looking back to see if he was following. She needed a moment to compose herself, so she leaned on the counter and closed her eyes, massaging her temples.

"Alicia? Are you alright?" John gave her a concerned look as he entered the kitchen.

She smiled at him. "I will be," she replied. "Do you want coffee?" He shook his head, so she poured a cup for herself while he stared at his shoes.

"Alicia, listen. About that press conference…"

"No, you listen," she interrupted him. "This is all my fault. I kissed you. You were just… There." Alicia drank from her cup, pretending she didn't notice the flash of hurt in his eyes. And trying to ignore the fluttering of her stomach as she remembered. The news anchor was right, that had been some kiss… She cut off that train of thought before it could go any further. "Just transference," she muttered.

"What's that?"

Alicia shook her head. "Never mind. The thing is, I know what you're thinking. And I'm not gonna let you do it." She drank more coffee, set down her cup and crossed her arms while she waited for his response.

John sighed. "You know it's the only way…"

"I'm not letting you take the fall for this." She crossed to where he stood and held his gaze. "I need you, John—on the campaign," she added quickly when he gave her a shocked look. "Please don't resign."

She really didn't want him gone, she realized. This was the first time in years that she had felt like she really had a chance to win and to step out of Peter's shadow. And John had built his life on winning. She liked him for that winning mentality, and she refused to analyze what else she liked about him right now. That was not important. Holding her breath, she waited.

John licked his lips, stared at the floor and then back at her, his eyes unreadable. He started to say something, but was interrupted by Eli's voice.

"Yes, Peter, don't worry, I'm sure she'll fire him—" Eli came into the kitchen, his phone pressed to his ear. "Oh, there you are, Alicia." He looked at them standing there and started to frown ominously. Alicia stepped back from John, who gave Eli an exasperated look. "Okay, I'll keep you in the loop." Eli ended the call, and looked at them again, practically fuming. "Don't tell me I'm interrupting some kind of tender moment, because I swear…"

"Relax, Eli. We were just discussing strategy." John turned and left the kitchen, leaving Eli to mutter under his breath and Alicia fighting off the urge to run after him and demand an answer.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N 1: Thank you all for sticking with this story. To the anonymous reviewer who brought a timeline error to my attention, thanks for paying attention, it's been fixed! Enjoy the final chapter, in which Peter decides to drop by...**

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**A Winning Team**

_Tuesday, 1.25 pm_

Eli and John had both left an hour ago, and Alicia had been on the phone ever since then. First, she had cancelled her lunch with Owen. Then she had rescheduled the partners meeting for tomorrow. And then she'd taken phone call after phone call of people who were concerned about her. Her mother. Finn. Robyn. And just now, Diane had called her back to tell her that Colin Sweeney was suing some TV show or something, and Alicia had actually found an upside to being in politics in that call. Her run for SA meant she couldn't represent Sweeney anymore, and she was glad.

She turned her phone off and had just made a sandwich for herself when the doorbell rang. She considered ignoring whoever it was, because it was probably just Eli again. She had a speech to write for the press conference, and Eli would just try to talk her out of the whole thing...

"Alicia, would you open up? Eli told me you were still at home!"

Peter. Alicia groaned, but she knew she'd have to face her husband sooner or later. "Let's just get it over with," she muttered.

"We need to talk," he said, as soon as she opened the door for him. "About Elfman."

As if she needed him to clarify. Alicia resisted rolling her eyes and stepped aside to let him in. He strode right to the kitchen, leaving her no choice but to follow him. "Peter…"

"Stop banging the help," he interrupted her, a stony look on his face. "Wasn't that what you said to me about Ramona? And then you go and do… Elfman." Folding his arms, he waited.

"I did not 'do' John, Peter. It was just a kiss. Not that it's any of your business."

"Not my business? Last time I checked, we were still married. I think that makes it my business. Don't you?"

"Really, Peter? You're playing the marriage card?" Alicia put her hands on her hips. "Tell me, how's Ramona doing?"

"I fired her. I suggest you do the same with Elfman."

"I will do no such thing."

His mouth became a thin line, his eyes were cold. "You will if you want me on your side. And you do. Because you need me to get elected."

"See, that's where you're wrong, Peter." Alicia gave him a cool smile. "I don't need you. I can win this. All by myself. Shocking, I know. But true. And you know it. I just wish I'd realized it sooner myself."

"Well, we'll just see about that." Peter invaded her personal space, forcing her to back into the counter. His voice low he continued, "If you don't fire Elfman, I will file for divorce." Stepping back, he gave her a satisfied look. He really thought she was going to just give in to his demand, like the good, obedient wife he still seemed to take her for.

Alicia stepped forward, getting right in his face. "Listen carefully, Peter. You can do whatever the hell you want. Because I. Don't. Care." A shocked expression came on his face as he let that sink in. She just kept staring at him, making sure he saw the truth in her eyes.

They stared at each other until Peter's phone started ringing. Alicia stepped back to give him some room and watched as he put the device to his ear. "Hello... Elfman's there? Good. Keep him there," He turned and marched back to the front door. "I'm on my way now." Ending the call, he opened the door and turned around to give her a menacing look. "You don't want to fire his ass? Fine. I'll make sure he resigns on his own." And with that he left, shutting the door firmly behind him.

Alicia didn't waste any time. She turned her own phone back on and called John, who didn't answer. So she called Eli instead. "Did you just call Peter?" she asked, before he had a chance to say anything.

"Alicia…"

"Did you?"

He sighed. "Yes."

"Did you know he just threatened to divorce me if I don't fire John?"

He muttered something unintelligible. "No. But, Alicia," Eli lowered his voice. "You should fire him! Peter fired Ramona for you. If you want to save your marriage, you should do him the same courtesy."

"Well, I've got news for you, Eli. I'm not going to. You might as well start doing some damage control."

"Alicia, please listen to me. The way you are handling this is political suicide. You need Peter. At least until you get elected..."

"Actually, that's crap, and you know it. Tell him to stay away from John. And from the press conference." Alicia broke the connection, cutting off Eli's pleas to reconsider. She tried to call John once more, but again he didn't answer. So she left a voicemail and texted him, to warn him that Peter was on his way. Then she looked at her sandwich and sighed. She wasn't very hungry anymore.

* * *

_Wednesday, 8.02 am_

Alicia poured herself a cup of coffee while listening to the choir music coming from Graces room. No morning news. Even though she didn't particularly like choir music, she considered that a big improvement. She sighed when she remembered the conversation she'd had with Grace last night. Her daughter had been understandably upset about the whole situation, but there had been relief too. The past years had been hard on all of them, but maybe yesterday's events had been necessary for them to finally really move on from all that.

When she heard the doorbell ring, an unexpected flutter went through her stomach. She opened the door and the flutter became more pronounced. Okay, so maybe she felt... something. Maybe it was just transference. Maybe it was a crush. It didn't matter, because if she didn't act on it, it would fade sooner or later. "Hi," she said to John.

"Hey," he replied. "Are you alright?"

"I don't know, you tell me..." Alicia crossed her arms. "Do I still have a campaign manager?" She held her breath as she waited.

Before the press conference there had been no time to talk. And he'd been gone when she finally made it off the podium. She hadn't been able to reach him since. Then, an hour ago, he'd sent her a text that he was coming over to talk to her.

"I'm here, aren't I?" John shrugged. "Although that's just because you've left me no other choice…" He looked at the floor.

_What?_ Alicia gasped. "John, I don't want you to feel forced to—"

"Alicia. Relax." Smiling, he looked back up. "Like I've told you before, I built my life on winning. You're gonna win this, so how could I not stay?"

"I… What?"

"Let me in and I'll show you the results of the poll we did last night." A teasing twinkle in his eyes, John held up a manilla folder she hadn't noticed till now. "Voters seem to like the way you handle things. You're way ahead of Prady. We need to keep that momentum going."

"So… We're good, then?" She wasn't just talking about her campaign, or their professional relationship. And judging by his face, he knew it too.

John smiled, but the twinkle left his eyes. Holding her gaze with his, he nodded slowly. "Yeah. We're good," he said quietly, but in a decisive tone.

Alicia returned his smile, but apparently she couldn't completely hide the sudden pang of loss she felt. She watched his smile fade as he swallowed and saw his eyes widen a bit in surprise.

"I'm leaving now, mom—Oh." Grace, coming from her room, halted abruptly when she saw them standing there. "Hello, Mr. Elfman." Her tone was carefully bland.

"Hi, Grace…" John cleared his throat. "How are you?"

"Fine. Gotta go. Bye," Grace said, brushing past them. They stared after her as she almost ran towards the elevator.

"Is she okay?" John asked when the elevator doors closed.

"She will be," Alicia said, silently hoping it was true. "Now, show me those polling results."

**The end**

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**A/N 2: Yes, that's really the end, at least for this story. Maybe there'll be a sequel in the future. I'm also working on another story for John and Alicia, but I want to see which way the show is going with these two first, before I decide if I will post that one. Plus, there's only so much I can do with the backstory they have given us on John so far.**


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